VZCZCXRO9673
PP RUEHBC RUEHDBU RUEHDE RUEHKUK RUEHLH RUEHMOS RUEHPW
DE RUEHKU #1135/01 0921207
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 021207Z APR 06
FM AMEMBASSY KUWAIT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3784
INFO RUCNISL/ISLAMIC COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 KUWAIT 001135 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR NEA/ARP 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/02/2016 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KIRF KU FREEDOM AGENDA
SUBJECT: FREEDOM AGENDA: MUNICIPAL COUNCIL DECISION SPARKS 
RELIGIOUS DEBATE AND BUREAUCRATIC CONFUSION ABOUT CHURCHES 
 
Classified By: CDA Matthew H. Tueller for reasons 1.4(b) and (d). 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary and Comment: The Kuwait Municipal Council 
denied on March 20 a Catholic group's request for land to 
build a new church.  The denial caused a vigorous public 
debate over the limits of religious freedom for non-Muslims 
in Kuwait.  All agreed on freedom of conscience, but some 
argued that Islam forbids the building of churches on the 
Arabian Peninsula while others criticized the hypocrisy of 
demanding Muslim rights in non-Muslim countries and then 
denying those rights to non-Muslims in Muslim countries.  The 
Kuwait Municipality and Municipal Council are only supposed 
to review the technical aspects of land requests, and some 
members made statements about the technical reasons for 
denying the Church's request.  Individual Municipal Council 
members did not refrain, however, from giving their opinions 
about whether they thought new churches should be built, 
thereby causing some doubt as to whether the technical 
justifications were excuses for other agendas.  The Church 
finds itself in the confusing intersection between arguments 
about religious principles, technical bureaucratic 
procedures, complex inter-agency relations, the realities of 
a state where connections have traditionally been the way of 
getting things done, and traffic jams.  End Summary and 
Comment. 
 
Church's Request for Land Denied 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (U)  The Kuwait Municipal Council denied on March 20 the 
request of the Greek Catholic (Melkite) Church of Kuwait for 
a piece of land to build a church.  The Church's members are 
Syrian and Lebanese expatriates.  The Municipal Council did 
not provide an official reason for the refusal.  (Note: The 
Municipal Council has authority to make all grants or leases 
of government land in Kuwait. Approximately 95% of Kuwait's 
land is owned by the government, according to a Kuwait 
Municipality source.  End Note.) 
 
Public Debate: Arguments Against Church-Building 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶3.  (U)  Newspaper coverage of the issue featured a number of 
MPs and other prominent Islamist-leaning figures declaring 
their opposition to the construction of churches in Kuwait: 
 
--  Municipal Council member Abd Al-Aziz Al-Shayiji told the 
Al-Watan daily newspaper that non-Muslims could practice 
their religions in their homes or places of work, but that 
they could not establish their own houses of worship, even in 
rented facilities. 
 
--  Salafi Islamist Adil Al-Damkhi, an Islamic studies 
professor at Kuwait University and a co-founder -- along with 
Islamist MPs Fahd Al-Khanna and Ahmad Baqer -- of an Islamic 
Human Rights NGO, gave a newspaper interview in which he 
asserted that no new churches should be built in Kuwait, 
quoting the Prophet Muhammad "there are not two religions on 
the Arabian Peninsula."  He added that existing churches did 
not have to be destroyed. 
 
--  Al-Khanna added another quotation from the Prophet: 
"expel the mushrikeen (polytheists/idolators) from the 
Arabian Peninsula."  (Note:  Islam generally considers 
Christians and Jews not to be polytheists, so Al-Khanna's 
statement represents a particular interpretation of Islam. 
Al-Khanna is affiliated with Kuwait's Salafi movement.  End 
Note.)  Al-Khanna went on to say that non-Muslims were free 
to believe what they wanted, but that practicing their 
rituals was not permitted.  He told Al-Watan that the 
presence of existing churches "violates Allah's book (the 
Qur'an) and the way of his Prophet (sunna)." 
 
--  Youssef Al-Sanad, an Islamic scholar and speaker, said 
non-Muslims could be granted their rights as long as they did 
not threaten the security and strength of the Muslims.  He 
continued that there were enough churches in Kuwait, given 
the percentage of Christians. 
 
--  Professor of Sharia, Dr. Bassam Al-Shatti, said Muhammad 
had forbidden the destruction of churches that had been built 
before Islam, but also forbade the building of churches after 
the coming of Islam.  He repeated that Muhammad said there 
was only one religion on the Arabian Peninsula and that 
anyone who facilitates the building of a church commits a 
sin.  He noted that those who argue for allowing churches on 
the basis of pluralism are mistaken.  According to the UN, he 
argued, the number of houses of worship should be in 
accordance with the number of citizens of a particular 
religion.  Since there are not more than 110 Kuwaiti 
 
KUWAIT 00001135  002 OF 003 
 
 
Christian citizens, the 10 official and 25 unofficial 
churches are more than sufficient.  This latter argument was 
brought forward by many others as well, including Municipal 
Council members Muhammad Ibrahim Al-Mufrij and Zaid Al-Azmi. 
 
Public Debate: Arguments For Church-Building 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶4.  (U)  Other Kuwaitis defended the right of Christians to 
build places of worship: 
 
--  Pro-American, liberal political science professor Dr. 
Shamlan Youssef Ali wrote an opinion piece in the Al-Seyassah 
daily criticizing Muslims for demanding their rights to free 
worship in countries where Muslims are minorities, but then 
restricting the same right to non-Muslims in their own 
countries. 
 
--  MP Badr Al-Farisi echoed the sentiment: "Houses of 
worship are guaranteed to all.  We must respect (other) 
religions, just as we ask the West to respect our religion." 
 
--  The Dean of Islamic and Sharia Studies at Kuwait 
University, Muhammad Al-Tabtabaei, put forth the argument 
that Islam does not force people to enter into it, and that 
non-Muslims have been protected in the Muslim world.  He said 
it was the responsibility of those in power to weigh the 
costs and benefits to the Muslims of establishing new 
churches on a case-by-case basis. 
 
The Church's View 
----------------- 
 
¶5.  (C)  The initial decision refusing the Church's request 
had come the week prior to the March 20 decision.  Church 
representative Pier Maloof told PolOff at that time that a 
Municipal Council member had told him that the Coptic Church 
(an Orthodox, primarily Egyptian Church with approximately 
85,000 adherents in Kuwait), which is in the process of 
establishing a church in the same neighborhood where the 
Greek Catholic Church wanted to build, was sufficient for the 
Christian community's needs.  He brought up the oft-repeated 
argument made by Kuwaitis that there is no need for more 
churches since there are only about 100 Kuwaiti Christians. 
(Note:  The expatriate Christian community, including all 
denominations, consists of 250,000 - 300,000 members.  It is 
hard to quantify the number of churches.  Estimates range 
from 5 - 25 places of worship, with many groups sharing 
facilities or operating out of private homes.)  Maloof told 
PolOff in a March 27 meeting that the Church had sought help 
through Shaykha Fariha, a half-sister of the Amir and 
full-sister of the Crown Prince, whom the Church said was 
instrumental in helping the Copts establish their church and 
whom the Church views as a great supporter.  Maloof said she 
had spoken with the Minister for Municipal Affairs and 
reported back to the church: "don't worry."  Church officials 
clearly seemed worried, however.  Church leaders requested 
Post's intervention, and Emboffs regularly discuss religious 
freedom with GOK contacts. 
 
The View from the Municipality 
------------------------------ 
 
¶6.  (SBU)  Musa Al-Sarraf, Assistant Undersecretary for 
Performance Auditing at the Municipality, told PolOff in a 
March 11 meeting that all requests for land must come through 
the relevant government body, and not directly to the 
Municipal Council or Municipality.  The Municipal Council and 
the Municipality are then supposed to review the technical 
and planning aspects of the project.  Al-Sarraf described 
this as a procedure to limit pet projects and other corrupt 
practices.  (Note:  The Municipal Council is an elected body. 
 Until 2005, it controlled all land grants and leases, with 
the Kuwait Municipality as its technical arm.  Due to 
allegations that the Council had too much power to easily 
whisk through pet projects, a 2005 law gave the Municipality 
a veto on all land decisions.  Conflicts between the 
Municipality and the Council are referred to the Council of 
Ministers, Kuwait's cabinet.  End note.) 
 
¶7.  (C)  Dr. Fadhel Safar Ali, a first-term Municipal Council 
Member and Islamist-leaning Shi'a, told PolOff in a March 22 
phone conversation that the Church had applied directly to 
the Council.  He said it should reapply through the Ministry 
of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs.  PolOff advised Maloof and 
Church leader Father Boutros Gharib of this technical 
requirement.  They expressed doubt as to the efficacy of this 
strategy, since the land lease would have to ultimately be 
approved by the Municipal Council.  They fear the Municipal 
Council is ideologically set against them, a fear that is 
 
KUWAIT 00001135  003 OF 003 
 
 
reinforced by the public statements of some of the Council 
Members.  Gharib also noted that the Ministry of Awqaf and 
Islamic Affairs had told Protestant leaders in Kuwait that it 
would have nothing to do with licensing a church. 
 
¶8.  (C)  Ali told PolOff that the decision was based on one 
of the Council Member's argument that a plot had been 
allotted the previous year for a similar purpose (i.e. the 
Coptic Church).  Without prompting, he then went on to say 
that if the Church could not pray in the same place as the 
other church because of sectarian differences "like 
Sunni-Shi'a they should have presented that argument to the 
Council.  (Comment:  The fact that Ali knew the Church's 
counterargument to why another church was necessary is 
significant.  It could be a signal of willingness to approve 
a plot of land for a new church, but not at the expense of 
the normal legal process.  On the other hand, it could signal 
that the Council does not favor approval and is looking for 
technical excuses so it does not have to explicitly forbid 
the construction of a church.  End Comment.)  In response to 
PolOff's question about the prominent declarations that 
church-building in Kuwait is illegal, he responded that the 
Kuwait constitution guarantees freedom of worship and that 
church-building is permissible in Kuwait. 
 
Mosques Also Denied Construction Permits 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶9.  (U)  Municipal Council members Al-Azmi and Al-Mufrij also 
noted that Hawally, the district where the Church wanted to 
build, is experiencing overcrowding and traffic congestion. 
They said some applications for mosques had also been refused 
in Hawally for the same reasons. 
 
********************************************* * 
For more reporting from Embassy Kuwait, visit: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/?cable s 
 
Visit Kuwait's Classified Website: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/ 
********************************************* * 
TUELLER